Hal.dll high interrupts CPU usage

[Shafski]

That memory usage looks pretty good.

Actually, I think it's a combination of the large disk being used for system files and the possibility that you may be using IDE mode instead of AHCI mode. I didn't look up the specs on your HDD but large disks aren't known for speed. Typically, they're used for data storage. Windows will use much of whatever you assign to virtual memory even though it may not be necessary from a physical memory standpoint. And having a pagefile on a slow disk takes time and I/O from other tasks as the pagefile is filled and re-read.

That's where Solid State Drives (SSD) really shine. They can make an otherwise slow system blazing fast. Many use a smaller SSD for system and programs and leave the HDD to data storage. The difference is like night and day.

Keep an eye on your system load for a while and if it stays low, you can add back any startups you disabled during the Clean Start. It's better to add only ONE at a time so you can see the effect it has on the system and decide if it's worth the load it puts on the system when you're not actually using it.

Ah i've always heard good about SSDs but never knew completely what they actually do. So far no problems and been gaming since my post earlier today.
It's funny how all the performance guides on the web say "increase page file size" (although I didn't bother or touch the page file before now) but reducing it was the way forward here.

Thanks so much for the help by the way, I really do appreciate it. You've helped me fix a problem that I struggled with for a while with no help.

 

[carwiz]

You might also check in your BIOS and see if your disk mode is set to IDE or AHCI. DO NOT change anything! Just look. If you change it, the PC won't boot.

Added: If it is set to IDE, there's a specific sequence you need to follow to change it to AHCI. This will also speed up access to the drive and help. AHCI mode has a few side benefits but most importantly, it allows Native Command Queuing (NCQ).

 

[Shafski]

You might also check in your BIOS and see if your disk mode is set to IDE or AHCI. DO NOT change anything! Just look. If you change it, the PC won't boot.

Added: If it is set to IDE, there's a specific sequence you need to follow to change it to AHCI. This will also speed up access to the drive and help. AHCI mode has a few side benefits but most importantly, it allows Native Command Queuing (NCQ).

Indeed it is set to IDE, with the other 2 options being AHCI and RAID

 

[GokAy]

Follow this http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/61869-ahci-enable-windows-7-vista.html
then change to AHCI in BIOS
If something goes wrong and you can't boot to Windows, just change back to IDE.

 

[Shafski]

Follow this http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/61869-ahci-enable-windows-7-vista.html
then change to AHCI in BIOS
If something goes wrong and you can't boot to Windows, just change back to IDE.

Done. And subsequently the drivers installed, confirming something happened.

Btw when I changed it in BIOS these new settings appeared (the 'hot plug' ones); I leave them all disabled right?

 

[GokAy]

For internal ones you can leave disabled. HotPlug is an AHCI feature, probably why they show up now.

 

[Shafski]

You might also check in your BIOS and see if your disk mode is set to IDE or AHCI. DO NOT change anything! Just look. If you change it, the PC won't boot.

Added: If it is set to IDE, there's a specific sequence you need to follow to change it to AHCI. This will also speed up access to the drive and help. AHCI mode has a few side benefits but most importantly, it allows Native Command Queuing (NCQ).

Btw after making the change, NT kernel & system is avg constant 7-10 CPU again. I'm not even sure if it was because of the change or something else.

 

[GokAy]

you have already enabled AHCI in registry, you can switch back to IDE and see if it will correct.

 

[Shafski]

you have already enabled AHCI in registry, you can switch back to IDE and see if it will correct.

I have to switch the registry values back or can I just switch back to IDE anyway?

 

[GokAy]

Keep it like this, so then you can switch back to AHCI later again. You know it maybe possible the two are totally unrelated. No need to mess with registry every time. As it is now, only a driver or two are loaded (which aren't used).

I will not interfere with Carwiz's work in this aspect, as I have very little experience.

 

[carwiz]

Sorry for getting back late. Had to shutdown for a while during some "thunderboomers". Last week was a soaker for the entire region. This was another short round.

It could be that because of the AHCI change, it's allowing more I/O to happen and the CPU isn't waiting as much for the drive. I would leave it at AHCI for the time being and keep monitoring stability and speed. Your image in Post #13 was beneficial in determining the backup.

Next up:
What AV products are you using?

 

[Shafski]

Sorry for getting back late. Had to shutdown for a while during some "thunderboomers". Last week was a soaker for the entire region. This was another short round.

It could be that because of the AHCI change, it's allowing more I/O to happen and the CPU isn't waiting as much for the drive. I would leave it at AHCI for the time being and keep monitoring stability and speed. Your image in Post #13 was beneficial in determining the backup.

Next up:
What AV products are you using?

Windows firewall & defender. Very basic. I just scan with malwarebytes regularly but I don't do anything on this other than game which is why I'm comfortable with having just that, and I'm pretty knowledgeable/educated with malware than the average joe enough to know how to avoid common malware. Just have windows firewall running and windows defender

 

[carwiz]

Ok, that's good. Some of the AVs can be a real burden on the system. I probably could have looked at your upload but I deleted it already and I'm lazy.

 

[carwiz]

Yeah, get a bigger CPU.
I don't know enough about the AMD stuff to help in that regard. There may be some tweaking available but I'm just not up on it. And I'm not a proponent of overclocking. I wouldn't just look at CPU usage as a gauge. You certainly don't want it sitting idle. If it's busy, it's busy doing something. You simply can't stuff 10 pounds into a five pound bag.

 

[carwiz]

I was looking at that OBS. It's doing video encoding so it may be hitting the disk and CPU pretty hard with it's own buffering. You might look at it and see if there's any options to keep more in memory or reduce the streaming from HD. With 8G, the more you use of it and less disk, the better off you'll be.

 

[Shafski]

I was looking at that OBS. It's doing video encoding so it may be hitting the disk and CPU pretty hard with it's own buffering. You might look at it and see if there's any options to keep more in memory or reduce the streaming from HD. With 8G, the more you use of it and less disk, the better off you'll be.

Ah thanks, i'll try tweaking with the settings more. One last question xD My ram in my Computer --> Properties says 8gb (7.19 Usable). How come?

 

[carwiz]

If you look back at your Physical Memory usage, it shows 827MB reserved for hardware. This is most likely for the graphics card but it could be reserved by the BIOS for chipsets. That leaves the 7.19GB usable.

I'll have to look up your video card but there may be a video memory option in BIOS. This BIOS setting is normally not needed with a video card--Only for on-board video. If you use both, leave at least 256MB for the on-board video otherwise; disable the on-board video.

 

[Shafski]

If you look back at your Physical Memory usage, it shows 827MB reserved for hardware. This is most likely for the graphics card but it could be reserved by the BIOS for chipsets. That leaves the 7.19GB usable.

I'll have to look up your video card but there may be a video memory option in BIOS. This BIOS setting is normally not needed with a video card--Only for on-board video. If you use both, leave at least 256MB for the on-board video otherwise; disable the on-board video.

I'll have a look in the BIOS now.

Does this seem right to you though? How come my system video memory is 0MB :O

 

[carwiz]

I'm not sure. I don't know how AMD defines the memory allocation. It sure looks like that "Dedicated" memory is part of the Reserved Memory shown in your graph though. The other is probably the video on-board memory.

 

[Shafski]

I'm not sure. I don't know how AMD defines the memory allocation. It sure looks like that "Dedicated" memory is part of the Reserved Memory shown in your graph though. The other is probably the video on-board memory.

So is it okay that the system video memory is 0MB? Obs streams using my GPU and i get non-smooth FPS ingame when people who use AMD cards and the OBS fork version that I use that streams uses GPU encoding get buttery smooth FPS. I'm not sure why and the people on the help forums there don't really know much about it either.